Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Early Preview: These Stars are Ours!

Flag of the United Terran Republic

We at Stellagama Publishing are hard at work on two big future releases.

The first is Space Patrol, a thrilling setting-neutral (for the most part) sourcebook for the Cepheus Engine and the other OGL 2d6 sci-fi games about interstellar policing and the eponymous Space Patrol enforcing the Law between the stars. Its estimated release date is Halloween 2016

The second - which I present here today - is the commercial, full-scale version of my old Visions of Empire sci-fi setting. We are now working on the first core sourcebook - called These Stars Are Ours! - and it's taking shape very nicely. This will be a full-scale book, first to be released as PDF and later as a Print-on-Demand (PoD) book for you to order.

Here is some flavor text from the first chapter of These Stars Are Ours!:

A Reticulan and two Terrans

"When we rose up, threw off our chains, and overthrew the EFA collaborators, I was pessimistic about our chances. I thought that our people, with our few worlds and small fleets, would not stand against the Reticulan might. I even feared that Terra will end up like the old Ssesslessian homeworld: reduced to rubble by the enemy. I was scared. But others knew one simple fact – that our spirit and determination were stronger than the Reticulan generals and their mercenary troops.

These Terran patriots steadfastly believed in our indomitable defiance in face of the Imperial oppressors, and they were right. Here we are, against all odds, against the well-calculated predictions of Reticulan military planners – standing free, one year after our declaration of independence. Our Republic is the sum of Terran resilience – a state built on unity, on cooperation, on liberty.It is a Republic defended by its armed citizens – no longer slaves sent to die and kill on alien worlds for alien masters, no! We are free Terran women and men bearing arms and facing the same alien overlords on the battlefield, keeping their talons off our motherworld.

Terran Navy (left) andNaval Infantry (right)

Today, these brave women and men are fighting in the trenches on Belobog, Sirius, and Svarog and flying starships in deep space in face of a relentless enemy. Wherever the Reticulans try to shackle our worlds, our citizens answer with gunfire. They fight for what is theirs: family, livelihood, liberty! Many of them will not return from the front lines. Many will give their lives for Mother Terra and our hard-won liberty. But this is the essence of our independence – won with blood, secured with fire. And we will march on, until we will raise our green and blue banner over the ruined palaces of the Reticulan enemy – until we will secure our independence once and for all! And then the galaxy will know: These stars are ours!"

- President Vera Singh, June 3, 2233 AD, commemorating the first anniversary of Terran independence.

The Terran Borderlands

These Stars Are Ours (TSAO) is the first product of the Visions of Empire (VoE) line of space-opera setting material for the 2D6 Science Fiction SRD rules (formerly known as Mongoose Traveller first edition). Set in 2260 AD - two years after the Terrans took Keid II and forced the Reticulan Empire to capitulate - it introduces the player characters to the immediate aftermath of the Terran Liberation War against the mighty Reticulan Empire and its many thralls. The Retriculan Empire had to sign a humiliating peace treaty with the victorious Terrans and reluctantly accept Terran independence from the Empire. For their part, the upstart Terrans, bolstered by their victory against their old masters, now move to become a power to be reckoned with in interstellar affairs. On this background of espionage, maneuvering and saber-rattling, and on the new interstellar frontiers, the player characters can forge a destiny of heroes or villains of the new United Terran Republic. The book provides background information, a 16 by 10 hex star-map, full information and write-ups about all 64 major worlds in this area, and other materials necessary to set a Traveller campaign in the exciting times of the 23rd century.

It is two years after we won the War against our old Reticulan masters. We - the children of Mother Terra - are now free to forge our destiny and put our mark on the stars. These stars are ours! We took them by our right, and by the blood of our brave soldiers and star-sailors who gave their lives to free our Motherworld from the Reticulan yoke. The United Terran Republic proudly carries our Terran banner forward and we will make ourselves - humans from Terra - into a power to be reckoned with. This is a time for bold men and women to step up and leave their mark on the universe. We need intrepid explorers to discover the riches of our far frontiers; enterprising merchants to open up new trade routes with far-away alien stars; cunning spies and agents to protect us from any alien plot against our hard-won independence; and of course - daring soldiers and spacemen to protect our borders and push back those who still desire to enslave us.

But we are not alone - brave Cicek warriors and even Reticulan and Ssesslesssian defectors fought along our side against the Reticulan legions. Rebuilding our space - indeed, building Terra into a mighty force on the interstellar playfield will require the help of our alien allies. Against this mighty alliance, stand our many enemies - both internal and external. Corrupt politicians and crime-lords plot to turn our glorious Republic into their own plaything at our expense. Ruthless pirates and raiders rob far-flung colonies, heedless of the opening they give to our greater enemies. In the shadows, House Thiragin - the Reticulan noble house which once ruled Terra - plots and plans for its ultimate revenge on us upstart “barbarians”. For all of this - children of the Earth – Mother Terra needs you!

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